FALL RIVER – The state Department of Transportation has awarded a contract for up to $210 million for a rail project that is intended to link Boston with Fall River and New Bedford.

Gov. Deval Patrick a longtime backer of the project, hailed the move by the agency’s board as “a game changer” in moving the $2.3 billion project from the planning to construction stage.

The 10-year contract, signed as a joint venture Vanasse Hangen Brustlin and HNTB Corp., funds $12 million in the first year to begin program management, partial design development, data collection, continued environmental permitting and public outreach. The remaining nearly $200 million will be awarded over the next decade in succeeding years, MassDOT officials reported after the directors’ vote.

The award also shifts the South Coast Rail Project from MassDOT to the the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, which operates that state’s other commuter rail lines, including the three that serve the South Shore.

“This historic project will help create economic opportunity in communities along the rail corridor, opening up the area for the kind of growth we are seeing throughout the commonwealth,” Patrick said of the planned commuter rail project from Boston’s South Station to Fall River and New Bedford.

Richard Davey, MassDOT secretary and CEO, said this is an important step toward giving the region’s residents “access to employment opportunities, recreation and an improved quality of life.”

Fall River Mayor Will Flanagan said project studies show it will generate $500 million in new economic activity annually, while bringing 7,000 to 8,000 temporary construction jobs and boosting business output at least $1.4 billion.

Several state and local officials said the project would provide “regional equality” to the South Coast, an area that has lagged behind the rest of the state economically.

Most area legislators called the $210 million contract an “important step” to making commuter rail happen and to improving and transforming the region’s economy.

It does not ensure future funding, which must be approved annually by the Legislature and the next governor to succeed Patrick next year. He’s the fifth governor since William Weld to address South Coast Rail and among the strongest proponents.

South Coast Rail would provide commuter service from Fall River and New Bedford to Boston’s South Station.